Alan Farrell (Dublin Fingal, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister for being here. I welcome the opportunity to contribute to the debate on this Bill which I believe will set research and innovation on a pathway to success into the future and provide a suite of benefits that will put Ireland very much on the front foot in this field. I commend the Minister and his officials on their work on the Bill and I look forward to engaging with them as this Bill progresses and when its provisions are implemented following the passing of all Stages. As a former member of the education committee, I am only too aware of the extraordinary importance not just of research and innovation but third-level institutions and all they offer the State. Education is the great enabler. It is so important that we invest in our future and young people so that they can fuel the economy of the future and themselves.

As the Minister highlighted, the core tenet of the Bill is to facilitate the creation of a new funding agency which will lead and manage funding for research and innovation across a wide range of disciplines and sectors and pull together these fields in the common goal of creating better systems and better solutions.

I firmly believe that through well-funded and dynamic research and development, Ireland can become a hotbed of ground-breaking innovation that has the potential to contribute to extraordinary solutions to some of the biggest challenges facing our world, everything from medical science to climate change to economic and social innovation. I reiterate the remarks of my fellow climate action committee member a few moments ago, when he referred to that innovation on the climate action front. We are on the cusp of the wind energy revolution that the Minister referred to yesterday and that I and others have been talking about for several years. It is that sort of innovation in solar technology and other areas that will make an extraordinary difference to our world. We have the capacity on this island to play a very significant role in that.

In turn, I believe these developments will attract talent and investment to Ireland, contribute to the creation of an increasing number of jobs across many sectors, provide new avenues of study for our young people and, importantly, keep them here. We have no shortage of potential in this country. Harnessing that potential can bring major advances in society and bolster our impact upon the wider world. Measures such as those contained in the Bill, working in tandem with other reforms to our higher education sector, will lead to a more diverse and creative country, one that is ready to respond to the challenges of today and those that tomorrow will bring. In particular, I commend the work being done by the Minister, Deputy Harris, with regard to increasing the numbers of apprenticeships in the State. Between 2020 and 2023 alone, we have seen an increase of 54% in the number of registrations for apprenticeship schemes, equating to a total of more than 30,000 people in that time. This is a good news story for Ireland and our young people. I urge the Minister to continue on that path and provide funding towards even more apprenticeships, to go beyond the targets that he has set and which have been taken up so encouragingly across the State.

Moreover, we have seen the launch of the first ever higher education courses outside of the points system, with 23 such courses launched last September. This was a historic step that expands access to education to more people. It would be remiss of me not to mention the development of more institutes of technology across the country, providing local educational options for people in their communities. In my constituency, the new Dublin Fingal East, I eagerly await the delivery and development of the Swords college of the future, which will provide a state-of-the-art campus that will cater for 1,000 full-time students with up to 6,000 qualifications issued per annum, when combined with upskilling and retraining courses that will be provided on campus. The Minister will not be at all surprised to hear that I eagerly await the announcement of the site acquisition and I look forward to the planning application going in on that particular project. It is critical to a community like Swords, which is growing at an extraordinary rate, as I am sure has been the case in many other constituencies across the country, particularly in the last decade or 15 years.

Projects such as these not only benefit people in the locality but have a direct impact on the long-term development of our country, particularly given its proximity to the airport, such a large provider of GDP and employment. By investing in people and their creativity, we are investing in a brighter, more productive and more dynamic future. The Bill before us speaks to that aspiration and to a pathway that will allow us to achieve that goal. Internationally, we are renowned for our capacity and creativity. This has led our people to the top of many fields throughout history. The creation of this new agency will help to create a new chapter in that history and bring us to the forefront of international research and development.

I also welcome the Minister’s comments on and commitment to increasing the level of support for PhD candidates, which I believe will attract more people into these avenues, many of whom carry out important research that shapes their respective fields. I look forward to working with he Minister and his Department on delivering this commitment. I am also encouraged by the recent reductions in the student contribution fee, the increase to the student maintenance grant and the decision by the Minister to invest directly in accommodation. This is such an important step. It is not necessarily relevant to this Bill but it is incredibly important for students who are starting their lives in third level or further education. It gives them a basis of stability which is so important, as the Minister well knows, when it comes to their ability to concentrate on the most important thing they are doing at this time, namely, engaging in education, rather than worrying about other matters.

I am very pleased, as I have said before at the committee and in this Chamber, to recognise the new emphasis that has been placed on higher and further education and research and innovation by this Government and the Minister.

I commend the officials in the Department for the extraordinary work they have done in such a relatively short period of time. I look forward to the passage of the Bill and the work that has been done thus far coming to fruition.

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